"Taking a fish from a small polluted environment to all of a sudden a clean environment can cause them to go into shock. People think they are doing their fish a favor by dumping them into a bigger tank but the water chemistry must be the same in both environments for the fish to be able to cope with the transition alright. Adding water from the old tank to the new tank, doing daily small water changes and adding clean water gradually to the new tank is the best way to avoid shock."

I am setting up a 10-gallon tank for my daughter's goldfish (Captain), who has been living in a 2-gallon tank. He's healthy, but I know this is like living in a closet, so I want to get him into a cycled 10-gallon tank. She is afraid to do this herself as she has had him for about 6 years and loves him very much.

What is the best way to transfer him into the new tank? Should I do a fishless cycling process, then put him in? Or should I take his 2-gallons of tank water, pour it into the 10-gallon tank, add fresh water, and put him in, then monitor the cycling while he's in the tank?

I would move him to the 10 gallon as soon as possible. The larger water volume will give you a lot more flexibility.

Put fresh conditioned water into the new tank and adjust the temperature so it's about the same as the temperature in the 2 gallon, then transfer all the water, gravel, and filter material to the new 10 gallon. The new tank may go through a mini-cycle or even skip it altogether if there is enough beneficial bacterial from the old tank. Monitor the water parameters carefully for a few weeks to make sure everything is fine.

The steps how I would do it though are the following.Get a plastic container, air pump and airstone, fill it with the tankwater of the 2 gallon tank, put the fish in, fill the rest of the water out of the tank.

Quickly set the 10 gallon up, use the gravel as nabi said, add a few live plants, install the filter, airstone, fill it with fresh but conditioned water. Add plenty of beneficial bacteria: like "Stability" from Seachem. It is meant to avoid the "new tank syndrome". Adjust pH and temp so it matches the other tank water so there is no shock for the fish. And introduce fishie to his/her new home

Yes, using old water from an already cycled system is a really great way to help the cycling process! I did it everytime so far!

Oh, and in case you're worrying about shocking your fish, you could move him with a plastic bag (like when you buy a new fish!). Put the bag (with old tank water) into the new tank, and let him get used to the temp. After about half an hour you could pour in a cup of water from the new system and let him out after repeating the process about 2-3 times That way, you can be sure that he'll be getting used to the water safely!

Hanna: Nitrogen in water also helps the tank cycle. It's the same thing as adding fish foods to an empty tank, only that it's already dissolved d: So that wouldn't be any kind of problem to use water from the old tank. Like mentioned in some other posts, I've used the technique myself few times, and my tanks cycled really fast

The bigger problem is that nitrates are affecting the immune system negatively. And if you're worried about this, you could either do it with the bag, like I described earlier, or you could do an 80% water change about two days before you move the fish. That way, the difference between the nitrate levels will be smoother and go more gradually You set up that new tank already, right?

I set up the new tank yesterday. I put 1 ounce of the poor water into the new tank, and the recommended dose of 'Stability' to aid in avoiding new tank syndrome. I also conditioned the water for chlorine as usual.

The 'Stability' bottle says to add some every day for 7 days, so I will be doing that. I can add the fish at any time tho.

Today I moved 1 small decoration from the old tank into the new tank.

Captain is still in the old tank. He is honestly doing fine; he must have some really strong anti-bodies. I am also changing out part of the old tank water and filling it with fresh water to bring the pH levels and alkalinity back to normal, etc.. I have done this water change 3 times since yesterday afternoon. I tested the old water again today, and the levels are much safer. The alkalinity is still too low. The other readings are back in the safe zone.

I am trying to be really careful here. I still need you guys to help me, if you have advice. But even though the new tank is more spacious and prettier, this fish is still very healthy and I don't think it's critical that he be moved right away. I'd rather take a little time (maybe another day or two) just to be 100% sure that this is going to be a successful move.

On the other hand, he IS used to being dumped out of a dirty tank, and put into completely fresh water about once a month (for 6 years), so maybe he's used to it.

I don't know. Maybe I'm trying to make it too perfect? I am kind of nervous tho. My daughter's out of town, so this is completely up to me.

She won this fish at the fish races while she was in college (not that I condone that), and he was the champion of the night. He won about 4 races that night.

Sounds good so far! And I agree, if you can keep the levels in the old tank somewhat acceptable, it's better to wait a bit with moving the fish. Just so that the new tank will get as far as it can in the cycle. So just keep doing what you're doing, keep an eye on the water quality in both tanks, and keep doing small water changes in the 2 gal.As far as I know, the biggest shock for your fish would be the difference in pH, fish react on just one level's difference, so the bag method might help him get used to it more gradually.

It's cool that he has survived in such a small place for 6 years! That's quite impressive

Hi. I couldn't wait any more, Captain is in his new home! The pH and alkalinity were closely matched between the 2 tanks.

I did a combination of everything listed in this post. I didn't float a bag because the temperatures were the same. But I did something similar: I filled a plastic container with 1/2 old water, and 1/2 new tank water, and let him swim around in there for 1/2 hour.

Then I put all of that container into the new tank.

He's having fun exploring and showing off in front of me.

If there are problems with the water differences, will they show up right away? Or could it take a few days?

They would show right away, fish use to display stressful behaviors if they're not comfortable with their water. For example, hovering by the surface, darting fast around the tank (over and over and over.. and over again), or scratching themselves on the decorations. So if he seems happy, he probably is

Now all you need to do is to keep an eye on the ammonia and nitrite levels and do about 50% water changes whenever they get too high

Naww! Really beautiful fish I'm really sorry about Orchid :CI'm actually quite haunted myself by the memory of my poor golden Oranda, I bought him too late! He was so very sick when I got him home, but that was the one I wanted so... why would I get another fish? :C

He would enjoy company very much! But since he lives in a 10 gallon, you can't fit any more goldfish in it, unfortunately. If you really want to buy him a friend, you need a 20 or 30 gallon. (For more goldies, give 10 per fish) But for now, he'll have to be alone, since the tank is fully stocked already.

I actually bought two orandas this spring, and they were both swimming in a weird manner, because they were both constipated. Which I of course, didn't notice until I brought them home d: But with peas and worms in their diet, they loosened up a bit! And they got much more active after a while Nowadays they're among the craziest fish in my bunch d: